Sentences can seem simple. Even the most tangled and complex are just a few words arranged between punctuation and white space. Ideally they make sense standing alone. But sentences never really stand alone. They live in context, with … Read more

New York Times sportswriter John Branch is best known in the journalism world for “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek.” His gripping long-form narrative, which reconstructed a fatal avalanche in the Washington … Read more

I‘ve always thought writing should be learned by osmosis. Like if you read enough good books you shouldn’t need to know the exact rules about dangling participles. But I’m a journalist and maybe I give off a vibe, … Read more

An award-winning author writes a break-out novel, and then another, and then… It has been 10 years since Minnesota novelist Leif Enger‘s last book, “So Brave, Young and Handsome,” was published. That followed soon after his best-selling … Read more

Before anyone could even unfold the tree pulp, The New York Times Magazine wanted readers to know the magnitude of the story it had taken on. Editor Jake Silverstein announced on Twitter that the Aug. 5, 2018, print … Read more

Standing in the lobby of the gloriously ornate Chicago Tribune Tower, gazing at this James Madison quote, I am filled with pride. And fear. The pride stems not only from being a long-time member of the Fourth Estate but … Read more

Who knew there was a beat called “fire coverage,” or it was a job they would learn to love? Certainly not Lizzie Johnson, who was covering city hall for The San Francisco Chronicle, and not … Read more

I sat on a bench with Wade Livingston the other day. We talked about an alligator attack, a woman who drowned, and the people who saw fit to condemn her for the audacity to up and die while walking her dog. Read more